Over the holidays, my dad started noticing that he was having a hard time getting his food to stay down. He wouldn't necessarily throw up but more regurgitate his food back up. You know, kinda like a mother bird does before she lets her babies eat the regurgitated food out of her mouth? Gross. Anyway, it was only once in awhile and was more annoying than anything else. Still, without even much nagging from my mom, he made an appointment to have it checked out. (completely out of character for both mom and dad:)).
During one of the first appointments he had an upper endoscopy performed. This is basically a tube being jammed down your throat to see what is going on inside your digestive tract. Luckily, they knock you out for this... Dad said he actually had a pretty nice sleep. ---They said it was probably Barrett's esophagus, which is basically where your esophagus has some damage, probably from stomach acid. They saw an ulcer and did a biopsy to test for any cancerous cells. At this point it was assumed by our family that this was just a matter of him getting to a doctor to cut out this stupid ulcer so he could eat a little better.
Meanwhile, dad is losing quite a bit of weight and really having a hard time keeping food down on some days and others he is usually fine. There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern, just once and awhile this ulcer acted up. Honestly, I would say that at first dad enjoyed the weight loss. I mean, he wasn't obese or anything but I think every middle aged man (or woman) wouldn't mind shedding 20 or 30 pounds! In fact, mom and I were thinking, "why does he get to have an ulcer and not eat and we can't stop!" (joking of course, sorta). I'd like to say we were considerate and didn't eat anything in front of him when he wasn't able to eat, but we did. You know, we can't go a-wastin' food in this family.
After Thanksgiving and closer to Christmas this 'ulcer' became a bit more of a concern. We were all done seeing dad lose weight and wanted it fixed. Watching him try to stuff food down and not being able to was getting old and I think mom was sick of paying for him to eat food when they went out and him having to constantly excuse himself from the table to expel it! Eating out is already pricey and a waste of money, but when you don't even get to enjoy the entire digestive process, what's the point!?
He was more tired from not getting enough nourishment and his face was really starting to show it. His racquetball skills were really lacking and I was getting sick of having to whoop him on the court every week (ok, that might not be how it happened, but let a girl think she could beat a sick middle aged grandpa). He soon had some more tests done including a CT scan which showed the growth... ---those CT scans require you to drink like 4 huge cups of that barium liquid that they claim tastes "just like Purel water"... uh, no... it does not, it is NASTY and 4 huge cups is a little overkill if you ask me...they also pump stuff into your IV that makes you feel really warm in, ehem, certain parts of your body, ehem.---Anyway, this time around the doctor said that it was a tumor with a few pre-cancerous cells. Dad would have to meet with someone at MD Anderson and the first available appointment was six weeks away. 6 FREAKING WEEKS! Annoying? Yes, but after all, he just has PRE cancer and there are so many people with actual cancer needing to be treated at the World's Number 1 Cancer Center.
Dad endured (as did we) and kept on trying to eat, mostly liquids at this point, just waiting for his appointment to cut this stupid growth out so he could eat again!
During one of the first appointments he had an upper endoscopy performed. This is basically a tube being jammed down your throat to see what is going on inside your digestive tract. Luckily, they knock you out for this... Dad said he actually had a pretty nice sleep. ---They said it was probably Barrett's esophagus, which is basically where your esophagus has some damage, probably from stomach acid. They saw an ulcer and did a biopsy to test for any cancerous cells. At this point it was assumed by our family that this was just a matter of him getting to a doctor to cut out this stupid ulcer so he could eat a little better.
Meanwhile, dad is losing quite a bit of weight and really having a hard time keeping food down on some days and others he is usually fine. There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern, just once and awhile this ulcer acted up. Honestly, I would say that at first dad enjoyed the weight loss. I mean, he wasn't obese or anything but I think every middle aged man (or woman) wouldn't mind shedding 20 or 30 pounds! In fact, mom and I were thinking, "why does he get to have an ulcer and not eat and we can't stop!" (joking of course, sorta). I'd like to say we were considerate and didn't eat anything in front of him when he wasn't able to eat, but we did. You know, we can't go a-wastin' food in this family.
After Thanksgiving and closer to Christmas this 'ulcer' became a bit more of a concern. We were all done seeing dad lose weight and wanted it fixed. Watching him try to stuff food down and not being able to was getting old and I think mom was sick of paying for him to eat food when they went out and him having to constantly excuse himself from the table to expel it! Eating out is already pricey and a waste of money, but when you don't even get to enjoy the entire digestive process, what's the point!?
He was more tired from not getting enough nourishment and his face was really starting to show it. His racquetball skills were really lacking and I was getting sick of having to whoop him on the court every week (ok, that might not be how it happened, but let a girl think she could beat a sick middle aged grandpa). He soon had some more tests done including a CT scan which showed the growth... ---those CT scans require you to drink like 4 huge cups of that barium liquid that they claim tastes "just like Purel water"... uh, no... it does not, it is NASTY and 4 huge cups is a little overkill if you ask me...they also pump stuff into your IV that makes you feel really warm in, ehem, certain parts of your body, ehem.---Anyway, this time around the doctor said that it was a tumor with a few pre-cancerous cells. Dad would have to meet with someone at MD Anderson and the first available appointment was six weeks away. 6 FREAKING WEEKS! Annoying? Yes, but after all, he just has PRE cancer and there are so many people with actual cancer needing to be treated at the World's Number 1 Cancer Center.
Dad endured (as did we) and kept on trying to eat, mostly liquids at this point, just waiting for his appointment to cut this stupid growth out so he could eat again!
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I had that warming stuff put in my IV right before my tonsilectomy - REALLY WIERD AND NO FUN!
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